sunk

February 24, 2017

The exile of the king and princes (Lam 2:9-2:9)

Tet

“Her gates have sunk

Into the ground.

Yahweh has ruined them.

He has broken her bars.

Her king

Is among the nations.

Her princes

Are among the nations.

Guidance of the law

Is no more.

Her prophets obtain

No vision

From Yahweh.”

The gates of Jerusalem have sunk into the ground. Yahweh has ruined the bars on the gates that are now broken. The king and the princes have been scattered among the various nations, so that there is no longer any guidance about the law. The prophets no longer have any visions or oracles from Yahweh. This verse starts with the Hebrew consonant letter Tet. Each verse after this will use the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet in this acrostic poem.

November 27, 2015

Yahweh as the creator of earth (Ps 104:5-104:9)

“You set the earth on its foundations.

Thus it shall never be shaken.

You cover it with the deep

As with a garment.

The waters stood above the mountains.

At your rebuke

They fled.

At the sound of your thunder

They took to flight.

They rose up to the mountains.

They ran down to the valleys.

They all went to the place that you appointed for them.

You set a boundary.

They may not pass this boundary.

Thus the waters might not again cover the earth.”

The earth had foundations like any building in a very static way. There was no hint of a round world in this flat world concept of the earth. However, they did seem to understand that the solid earth came from the waters. At the command of Yahweh, the waters receded, much like at the time of Noah in Genesis, chapters 6-10. The thunder served as the voice of Yahweh telling the waters to recede, which they did. Then the earth was formed as the mountains rose and the valley sunk, all due to the water that had been there. Everything took its place as it was appointed by Yahweh. Yahweh put boundaries on the waters so that they would never again cover the earth. This was the victory of Yahweh over the chaos of the waters.

August 15, 2015

The wicked are caught in their own traps (Ps 9:15-9:16)

“The nations have sunk in the pit that they made.

They have fallen into the net that they hid.

Now their own foot has been caught.

Yahweh has made himself known.

He has executed judgment.

The wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.

Higgaion

Selah”

David said that the various pagan nations have sunk into the very pits that they made to catch others. They were caught in their own nets. Yahweh had made himself known to all. He had executed his judgment. Thus the wicked ones were caught in their own nets and traps that they themselves had made. The term Selah, which appears over 70 times in the psalms, means a musical interlude or pause. The term Higgaion only appears 3 times in the psalms. However, it also means some kind of musical meditation. This public prayer stops for a musical mediation or pause.